Flag Raisings, Organ Donor Registry Drives Mark National Donate Life Month in April

Posted by Alisa Picerno, Community Contributor

Towns across Connecticut will raise flags in honor of National Donate Life Month in April to raise awareness about organ, tissue and eye donation.

Towns across Connecticut will raise flags in honor of National Donate Life Month in April to raise awareness about organ, tissue and eye donation. (Posted by Alisa Picerno, Community Contributor)

Community Contributor Alisa Picerno

Join LifeChoice Donor Services in recognizing National Donate Life Month this April, a month-long celebration commemorating those who have received or continue to wait for lifesaving transplants and remembering those who have given through donation.

Evelyn Harris of Hartford is one of the 124,000 people counting on someone to give her the life-saving gift she desperately needs. At the age of 14, Evelyn was diagnosed with a kidney disease called Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis (FSGS), a rare disease that attacks the kidney's filtering system causing serious scarring. It's a condition she has lived with for decades until she needed hemodialysis since 2008.

"I go to the hospital three times a week. I'm on the machine for three hours," said Harris. "My experience on dialysis is one that cannot be defined in two or three sentences. But to pick one word to sum it up - difficult!"

She has now been on the waiting list for a new kidney for four years. Harris does her best to remain patient, but the wait is excruciating and the dream of a new, healthy life is what keeps her going.

"For one, I would not be on dialysis. No more hospital. No more fluid restriction. And no more feeling like someone drained the energy right out of my body," she said. "You're always on a tight schedule. Rules need to be followed, directions need to be heard loud and clear or the outcome may be fatal."

Every year since 2003, April has been filled with stories to spread the lifesaving message of donation in order to motivate people to register as organ, eye and tissue donors. You can become a donor by registering online at www.lifechoiceopo.org.

"While increasing the number of registered donors that save and heal lives is part of our daily work, this month serves, not only to honor the lives of those who have given and received, but also as an opportunity to renew our commitment to saving lives ," says LifeChoice Public Education Specialist Caitlyn Bernabucci.

LifeChoice has many community awareness events scheduled around Connecticut and Massachusetts, including:

4/9 Town Hall Donate Life Flag-raising ceremony commencing at East Hartford, CT Town Hall at 11:30 a.m.4/14 Donate Life Flag-raising at Westfield, MA Town Hall at 4:00pm.4/17 Colchester Town Hall Flag-raising at 9am.4/17 National Blue and Green Day; wear blue and green in support of organ and tissue donation.5/2 Second Annual Blue & Green USATF Certified 5K Walk/Run in Windsor.

Additionally, several hospitals across Connecticut and Western Massachusetts will be hosting donor registry drives throughout the month, including:

Approximately half of the U.S. adult population is registered as donors. Still, the number of people in need of transplants continues to outpace the number of donor organs. On average, 21 people die each day because the organs they need are not donated in time. Registering your decision to become a donor is the most effective way to ensure you can save lives through donation and serves as a sign of hope to those like Evelyn who continue to wait.

LifeChoice Donor Services, Inc. is the federally designated, non-profit organ procurement organization (OPO) for six counties in Connecticut and three counties in Western Massachusetts with a combined population of 2.3 million people. The OPO serves twenty-three acute care hospitals for organ and tissue donation and two organ transplant hospitals, Hartford Hospital in Hartford, CT and Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, MA.

LifeChoice Donor Services is a member in good standing of the United Network of Organ Sharing (UNOS) and the Association of Organ Procurement Organizations (AOPO). For more information about LifeChoice and to join the Donor Registry, please visit www.lifechoiceopo.org or call 1.800.874.5215.

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